Dolphins at Bengals: Highlights, score and recap

A.J. Green ran riot to help the Cincinnati Bengals dominate the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football.

Green’s 173 receiving yards helped the Cincinnati Bengals win 22-7 to even their record at 2-2 and get their season back on track after consecutive defeats. Green struck early when he took a short pass seven yards into the end zone in the first quarter.

His score gave the Bengals the lead after Ryan Tannehill had connected with Kenny Stills on a 74-yard bomb to stun Paul Brown Stadium. The Dolphins had surprised the Cincinnati defense by spreading out coverage with five receivers in empty backfield sets, despite problems along the offensive line.

But Miami’s initial aggression soon gave way to conservative small ball as a fired-up Bengals pass rush took over. Tannehill was sacked five times and hit and pressured on many more, with end Carlos Dunlap in particular living in No. 17’s grid square.

The Dolphins defense hung tough, though, with coordinator Vance Joseph dialling up some creative pressure fronts. But too few stops on third down kept many Bengals drives alive.

Kicker Mike Nugent booted five field goals to add to Green’s score and keep Miami at bay.

Highlights

Green was in a dominant mood from the star, and soon reeled in what proved to be his biggest catch of the night:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/781672173643661312

Green was making all manner of catches:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/781665734942334976

But he wasn’t the only Bengal dominating. Dunlap was wrecking the Miami O-line:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/781681712803614720

Three Stars

1. A.J. Green

Green is the only place to start after he had his way with the Dolphins’ D. Truthfully, Green had to boss up proceedings against a unit struggling to get to the quarterback and with limited talent in the secondary.

The combination of Green’s athleticism and some smart designs overwhelmed the Dolphins. Cincy OC Ken Zampese moved Green all over and targeted him on a variety of routes.

It also helped the Dolphins didn’t pay the best wide receiver on the field the attention they should have. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell was especially left unimpressed by Miami’s willingness to try and cover No. 18 one-on-one:

Green was certainly great in this one.

2. Carlos Dunlap

Pretty much every member of the Bengals’ D-line rotation looked good on Thursday night. But few stood out as often as Dunlap.

He enjoyed a monster first half, featuring a strip-sack leading to a Tannehill fumble recovered by nose tackle Domata Peko. Dunlap also tipped a pass on 3rd-and-2 to kill another Miami drive inside the final minute of the half.

If the Dolphins thought Dunlap would slow down after the break, they were in for a rude awakening. It came when he was the first man to Tannehill on a gang sack featuring two other Bengals linemen. Dunlap had expertly split a double team to crush the pocket.

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The Cincinnati defense depends on the dominance of its front four. When everything clicks, the Bengals get their pressure from inside out, with tackle Geno Atkins wrecking the middle and Dunlap collapsing the edge.

It worked to devastating to effect on Thursday night.

3. C.J. Uzomah

If you’re looking for a surprise star from the game, how about Bengals backup tight end C.J. Uzomah? Tyler Eifert’s stand-in helped himself to four catches for an impressive 45 yards.

Uzomah kept the chains moving thanks to some savvy moves out of his breaks, as well as his 6’6″, 265-pound frame. Aside from a few drops, Uzomah showed his value to an offense needing to cultivate more intermediate targets for quarterback Andy Dalton.

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While the Dolphins inexplicably failed to get Jordan Cameron’s talented reserve Dion Sims involved, the Bengals staff wasn’t afraid to lean on Uzomah.